Dartmouth
DartAlert Emergency Mass Notification System — Emergency Notifications
Dartmouth College's DartAlert is the institution's Emergency Mass Notification System, a multimodal platform that delivers emergency notifications by text, email, voice call, desktop pop-up, outdoor siren, and an emergency web banner. Per Dartmouth's Office of Emergency Management, a trained group of authorized 'Initiators' within Safety & Security and other offices is permitted to send a DartAlert announcement.
Read the official policy~6,938 studentsDartAlert
In the policy’s own words
What the policy says
DartAlert definitionverbatim
DartAlert is Dartmouth's Emergency Mass Notification System, which combines various methods of communication to establish redundancy and resiliency in the delivery of Emergency Notifications to the campus community.
- Defines DartAlert as the multimodal Emergency Mass Notification System; reproduced consistently across Dartmouth's official Emergency Notifications and Office of Emergency Management snippets.
Authorized Initiatorsverbatim
The College has identified and trained a group of Initiators who are authorized to send out an announcement using DartAlert.
- Establishes that only a trained, authorized group of Initiators may send a DartAlert; reproduced consistently across official Dartmouth snippets.
Multimodal channels and Alertus desktop pop-upsnot yet verified against the source
The policy addresses this topic; its exact wording has not yet been verified against the source, so no text is quoted here. Open the official policy to read it.
Dartmouth College — Register for Emergency NotificationsClery testing of emergency plansnot yet verified against the source
The policy addresses this topic; its exact wording has not yet been verified against the source, so no text is quoted here. Open the official policy to read it.
Dartmouth College — Annual Test of PlansAt a glance
How this policy works
- When it activates
- DartAlert is activated for emergency notifications when there is an emergency on campus requiring the community to be informed and to take protective action; it is also the primary mechanism Dartmouth uses to issue Clery timely warnings, via an immediate-delivery message system.
- Who decides
- A trained group of authorized 'Initiators' (also called Alert Senders) may send a DartAlert — Safety and Security supervisory personnel including the Director, Associate Director, Lieutenant, and Emergency Manager of the Department of Safety and Security, plus several Deans in the Dean of the College Division, the Director of Risk and Internal Controls Services, and members of the Office of Communications.
- Timeliness standard
- Dartmouth uses DartAlert's immediate-delivery message system to issue emergency notifications; specific 'without delay' Clery wording was not reproduced verbatim in the snippets reviewed and is therefore paraphrased.
- Emergency notification vs. timely warning
- DartAlert is the primary mechanism for issuing both Timely Warnings and Emergency Notifications to the campus community via an immediate-delivery message system — the standard Clery two-track model.
- Testing cadence
- As required by the Jeanne Clery Act, Dartmouth conducts tests of its emergency plans throughout the year and publishes annual Clery test summaries (e.g., the Annual Test of Emergency Plans report); the exact announced/unannounced cadence was not reproduced verbatim in the snippets reviewed.
- Scope & limits
- DartAlert is multimodal: outdoor siren and audible speakers, mass email to all Dartmouth email accounts, cellphone voice and/or text, voice calls to Dartmouth-administered landlines, an Emergency Web Banner on the Dartmouth home page, and Alertus desktop pop-ups to standard Dartmouth computers managed by the Device Assurance Program. Personal-phone delivery requires registration of contact information.
ChannelsSmsEmailPhone CallDesktop PopupSirenPa SystemWebsite
Analysis
Reading the policy
Dartmouth describes DartAlert as "Dartmouth's Emergency Mass Notification System, which combines various methods of communication to establish redundancy and resiliency in the delivery of Emergency Notifications to the campus community." During an emergency, "Dartmouth Safety & Security relies on DartAlert to inform the Dartmouth community what is going on and the necessary actions they need to take to remain as safe as possible." Dartmouth's Office of Emergency Management administers the program.
**Channels.** DartAlert is deliberately multimodal: registered individuals receive notifications "via text, email, voice call, and as a desktop notification if connected to the network." More broadly the system is "comprised of an outdoor siren and audible speakers, mass email, cellphone (voice and/or text), telephone, and desktop alerts," sending "simultaneous emergency messages via email to all Dartmouth email accounts, voice calls to all Dartmouth administered landline phones, an Emergency Web Banner on the Dartmouth Home page, and Alertus computer screen pop-ups to all Dartmouth standard computers managed by the Device Assurance Program." The desktop pop-up capability is provided by **Alertus**; the College layers a separate Outdoor Mass Notification System (siren and speakers) on top.
**Decision authority.** Activation is restricted to vetted personnel: "The College has identified and trained a group of Initiators who are authorized to send out an announcement using DartAlert." Per Dartmouth's documentation the Initiators / Alert Senders group consists of Safety and Security supervisory personnel — including the Director, Associate Director, Lieutenant, and Emergency Manager of the Department of Safety and Security — together with several Deans in the Dean of the College Division, the Director of Risk and Internal Controls Services, and members of the Office of Communications.
**Clery framing and testing.** DartAlert is the primary mechanism Dartmouth uses to issue both Timely Warnings and Emergency Notifications to the campus community via an immediate-delivery message system, the standard Clery two-track design. As required by the Jeanne Clery Act, "Dartmouth has actively conducted tests of its emergency plans throughout the year to ensure their effective use during a true emergency," and the College publishes annual Clery test summaries documenting these exercises. Registration is handled through routine channels: students set contact information during term check-in, while faculty and staff use Employee Self Service. The desktop-pop-up vendor is Alertus.
Takeaways
Key findings
DartAlert is Dartmouth's Emergency Mass Notification System, built for redundancy across multiple channels: text, email, voice call, desktop pop-up, outdoor siren/speakers, and an emergency web banner.
Desktop screen pop-ups are delivered via Alertus to standard Dartmouth computers managed by the Device Assurance Program; a separate Outdoor Mass Notification System provides the siren and speakers.
Only a trained, authorized group of 'Initiators' (Alert Senders) — chiefly Safety & Security leadership plus designated Deans, Risk Services, and Communications staff — may send a DartAlert.
DartAlert is the primary mechanism for issuing both Clery timely warnings and emergency notifications via an immediate-delivery message system.
Dartmouth conducts Clery-required emergency-plan tests throughout the year and publishes annual Clery test summaries; students register contact info at term check-in and employees via Employee Self Service.
Policy, meet practice
When this system actually fired
2 documented times Dartmouth’s alert system was used, from the case archive.
Provenance
Sources
- Official
- Official
- Official
- Clery ASR
- Official
Tags
policyemergency-notificationtimely-warningnew-hampshirealertusivy-league
Added 2026-06-21Updated 2026-09-20Via ingestion